A variety of unscrambler or singulation type conveyor systems are presently known in the art. Such conveyors generally perform the function of arranging a randomly oriented mass or flow of articles into a single file oriented stream to facilitate processing by downstream conveyors and associated equipment. Typically such conveyors involve the use of rollers which are skewed to effect the forcing of the articles against a side guiding rail as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,739. Further, in order to jostle such articles into the desired orientation, the side guiding rail may be provided with an abrasive surface to encourage the rotation and jostling of articles into a single file orientation, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,074. Such side rails may also be formed as offset segments or even randomly adjustable offset segments adjusted so that for some average mix of article configurations the segments provide the desired unscrambling as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,284,186. Such jostling and mixing of cartons takes place over a series of rollers which have segmented drives of increasing velocity to open up the spaces between successive articles and allow articles traveling side by side to be manipulated into single file. Some segmented drives also utilize varying roller velocities oriented to encourage separation of articles and promote movement into the desired single file arrangement as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,074 mentioned above.
As such systems are forced to operate at higher speeds and increased throughput capacity certain problems appear with the existing technology. For example, forcing an article to ride along a guide rail which is coated with an abrasive substance can cause the surface of the article to become abraded, and in the case of a carton with printing, an identification label or other information on the exterior, such printing or information will be deteriorated by the abrading action causing a degradation at either the information or the esthetic appearance of the printing or exterior finish of the carton or article. Such abrading also causes a build-up of debris, dust and the like in the area of the unscrambler apparatus which is not desirable. In the case of segmented adjustable guide rails, such rails are purposely arranged to provide a maximum jostling and mixing action to the articles flowing by, and at high speeds, the impact produced by these rails can cause damage to the articles and to the contents thereof. The rails also contribute to the creation of a jam condition by restricting lateral article travel. It would accordingly be desirable to provide an unscrambling conveyor which would decrease the damage to the articles, cartons, surfaces and the contents thereof as they are manipulated by the conveyor into a single file.